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Old 02-27-2003 | 07:35 AM
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Propellars
 
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From: Aarhus, DENMARK
Default Super Reaper Canard link question

Thanks again John, but I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid I still cant follow you, my technical english is'nt that good.

I get your meaning: aerodynamic balanced and static balanced gives "no" flutter, but can I aerodynamic balance a hinged controlsurface?

Propellars,
If you make an "all flying surface" such as a canard or tailplane it is important to get it aerodynamically balanced. ["all flying surface", is "all mowing surface"? Mine is hinged, with say 50% non-mowing half, and 50% mowing half...] This is achieved by pivot the surface at 25% of mean aerodynamic cord. A cord line is a line draw from the very leading edge to the very trailing edge through the section. The mean aerodynamic cord (MAC) line divides two exactly equal areas of the surface in planform and would be parallel to the fuselage centre line. This is easy with a parallel cord surface ( 50% of span) but since yours is tapered [what does tapered mean? IF I was to make my canard all-mowing, it still would have parallel sides, wouldn't it? ] you will have to work it out. You could draw it out on graph paper, guess roughly where the line should go and then count the squares, correct draw an new line and so on until you are satisfied that you have the MAC line.
Next, measure back from the LE 25% of this cord and mark this point.
Then you need to get a set square on the fuselage centre line and join it to the 25% mark, and draw this line in.
This is the pivot line. With this pivot position there will be zero aerodynamic load on your servo.
However, you're not finished yet. You now need to statically balance this surface to prevent flutter. This is merely a matter of balancing the surface on the pivot by adding weight to the light side. If you do this the surface will not flutter.
Regards,

John.
IF I was to make an all-mowing surface, I found this nice program to calculate the CG. I supose your advise is to place the pivot in the CG location?

http://www.geocities.com/flyawaysrc/mac.html


My SR is made with lead-balanced controlsurfaces, so I supose I'm on the safe side conserning flutter.